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iHE POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN 
GERMANS, 1854-60 



BY 

ERNEST BRUNCKEN 



[From Proceedings of The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1901J 



MADISON 

State Historical Society of Wisconsin 

1901 



THE POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN 
GERMANS, fl854-60 



BY 

ERNEST BRUNCKEN 



[From Proceedings of The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1901J 



MADISOX 

State Historical Society of Wisconsin 

1901 






THE POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. 

1854-60 



, 1 



BY ERIs^EST BRUjSTCKEN. 

^Miile the principal parties opposing' each other were the 
Democrats and the Whi^s, the German voters of Wisconsiu 
were on the side of the former ahiiost with unanimity. But 
as the question of slavery assumed greater proportions in the 
public mind, more and more of the Germans became dissatis- 
fied with the treatment of that question by the Democratic 
party. In 1848 German votes helped the new Free-soil party 
to gain its partial victory in the state. The great majority of 
the Germans, however, notwithstanding their entire lack of 
sympathy with the slave-holders, remained Democrats until the 
outbreak of the War of Secession and even longer. To under- 
stand this apparent contradiction it will be necessary to dwell 
for a moment on the characteristics of the different political 
parties during the decade preceding the war, and see how they 
would j)resent themselves to immigrants from Germany. 

Before the slavery question became a disturbing factor, the 
Whigs may be described as the party of those who felt that there 
was such a thing as an x\merican nation, w^th an individuality 
and characteristics of its own, distinct from those of every other 
nation. These people were of the opinion, more or less clearly 
realized, that the genesis of this nation was already accom- 
plished, that its nature and essential character w^ere fixed, and 
that the only thing left for further development w^as the expan- 
sion of these fixed characteristics and their adaptation to the 
growth of the country^ without, however, changing them in any 

^Address presented at the Wisconsin state historical convention at 
Milwaukee, Oct. 12, 1901. 



Q) 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. IQI 

important respect. As most of the Wliigs had come to Wis- 
consin from iN'ew England, or those portions of the Middle states 
in which the i^ew England element was prevalent, they prac- 
tically identified this American national character with the 
only kind of Americanism they knew, that of New England. 
They intended to reproduce in Wisconsin, as nearly as possible, 
the institutions, together with the customs, popular views, 
and prejudices of tlieir native section. To this party, also, 
were attracted all who were economically interested in resist- 
ing tendencies towards equality — the wealthy, the protectors of 
vested interests, and finally, the believers in a strong govern- 
ment. Whigs were the ]n*omoters of measures tending to up- 
hold the ISTew England social customs, the Puritan Sabbath, 
temperance legislation, Protestant religious instruction in the 
public schools. By their opponents they were called aristo- 
crats, and there was just enough truth in this appellation to 
make it politically dangerous. It was natural that a party, 
the members of which, were so conscious of their national indi- 
viduality, should assume a jDOsition of antipathy, if not hostility, 
to the foreign immigrants, whose national characteristics were 
so different from their own. They feared that their 
own peculiar custom's and institutions would be modified by the 
influence of these newcomers, and that in the end the American 
people would come to be something quite different from what 
they wished. 

The Democratic party, on the other hand, embraced first of 
all those whose miuds were less influenced by national peculiar- 
ities and predilections, and more by that body of ideas concern- 
ing liberty and equality which one may roughly call the Jeffer- 
sonian doctrines — a set of opinions essentially cosmopolitan 
rather than national. In the second place, to the Democratic 
standard flocked all those elements which everywhere consisted 
of the admirers of Jackson — the masses who conceived Democ- 
racy to represent the common people as against the wealthy. 
The Jeffersonians were friendly toward the immigrants by rea- 
son of their principles; the masses sympathized with the for- 
eigners because the latter were, like themselves, poor, and had 
the same economic interests. 



192 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Under these circumstances it is not at all surprising- that not 
only the Germans, but also the Irish and other foreigners al- 
lied themselves with the Democratic party. There they found 
less disposition to interfere with their customs regarding the 
keeping of Sunday, the use of beer and wine, and similar things 
which may appear of small account to the highly educated, but 
are of great importance to the masse? who have few sources 
of enjoyment. Among the Democrats also they found a will- 
ingness to allow them to particij^ate in all the political rights 
i\nd privileges of the native citizen. 

Moreover, the educated portion of the foreigners, and particu- 
larly the German "Forty-eighters," found that the doctrines of 
Jefferson, the Democratic sage, were identical with those for 
which they had fought in their native land and for which they 
had bt^fn driven into exile. 

AVhen the slavery question became uppermost, it was espe- 
cially this latter class, the political exiles and their sympathiz- 
ers, who felt themselves in an uncomfortable predicament. 
They were Democrats because in that party they found the bul- 
wark of liberty and equality ; and now they saw that same party 
become the main support of a system than w^hich nothing 
could be imagined more abhorrent to Jeffersonian doctrines. 
When the Republican party was organized, the majority of the 
"Forty-eighters" rallied around its banner, and together with the 
old Free-soilers formed what may be called the Jeffersonian wing 
of the new party. The gTeater part, however, of the Repub- 
lican voters came out of the camp of the old Whigs. In com- 
ing together to form' the new organization, the two wings did 
not propose to give up their respective principles as they had 
held them before the slavery question came to the fore. The 
only thing which united them, was their common opposition to 
the spread of slavery into free territory. 

That this view of the nature of German Republicanism is 
correct, becomes evident from the perusal of a speech by Carl 
Schurz, given at Albany Hall in Milwaukee, during the cam- 
paign for'the election of Byron Paine as justice of the supreme 
court in 1859. Schurz was then the acknowledged leader of 
the German Republicans of the state, and his views may be 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. IQ3 

taken as typical of those of most of this element. The particu- 
lar phase of the anti-slavery strngg'le which was then before the 
public, w^as the fugitive slave law, which had twace been de- 
clared unconstitutional by the supreme court of Wisconsin. 
The United States supreme court, however, had reversed the 
decisions of the state tribunal, much to the disgust of the more 
violent anti-slavery men.^ Sclmrz, in discussing these 
questions, took occasion to analyze the relation of the state to 
the federal government, which he did in the most approved style 
of the states' rights school. He praised the Virginia and Ken- 
tucky resolutions, and his highest constitutional authority was 
Calhoun. The federal government seemed to him a dangerous 
animal, w'hich if not chained tight by strict construction 
of the constitution, would devour the last trace of self-govern- 
ment and liberty. - 

The consequences which this speech, strange as coming from 
the lips of a professed Republican, had upon Mr. Schurz's po- 
litical career, wall be treated of later. It is mentioned in this 
place only to show the antagonism which must have existed 
between the German wing of the Republicans and its Whig as- 
sociates. 

While the "Forty-eighters," who were new-comers and had no 
previous alliances with the Democratic party, threw themselves 
into the struggle against slavery with all the ardor with which 
in their old home they had fought against the absolute and 
pseudo-constitutional governments, the older leaders of the 
W^isconsin Germans remained true to the Democratic party 
t.hat had stood by the foreigners in their fight for political equal- 
ity with the natives. Their arguments against the Republi- 
cans were based on the ground that the new party, as the suc- 
cessor of Whigs and Knownothings, had inherited their prin- 
ciples ; that it was hostile to foreign-born citizens, favoring Puri- 
tan Sabbath observance and prohibition of the liquor traffic, and 
was generally the enemy of all human liberty and progress. 
These arguments, like the charge of aristocratic tendencies. 

'See In re Booth, 3 Wis., 1; In re Booth and Rycroft, 3 Wis., 145; 
U. S. vs. Booth, 18 How., 476; 21 How., 506. 
'Milwaukee Sentinel, March 28, 1859. 



194 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

against the old Whigs, did not entirely lack truth, and by their 
means the Democrats succeeded in keeping the greater part of 
the German voters true to their banner, notwithstanding their 
almost universal opposition to the slavery system. 

Having in this necessarily brief and unsatisfactory manner 
described the general character of the political life among the 
German voters of the period, I will now relate in some detail 
the part which Germans took in the political affairs of Wiscon- 
sin from the organization of the Republican party to the out- 
break of the War of Secession. I make no pretensions to ex- 
haustiveness. The material I have had at hand has been almost 
exclusively of a printed nature, principally the newspapers of 
the time. But very few of the files of the German newspapers 
of those years are at present accessible. Many have probably 
perished forever. 

On the thirteenth day of Jul.y, 1854, a mass convention was 
held at Madison for the purpose of organizing the new Repub- 
lican party. As far as I have been able to discover, the only Ger- 
mans attending were Karl Roeser,^ of Manitowoc, A. H. Biel- 
feld,- Dr. Charles E. Wunderly," and Christian Essellen* of 

^ Karl Roeser was born in Germany in 1809, became a lawyer, took 
part in the abortive revolutionary movements of 1830. was imprisoned 
for high treason, but soon pardoned, and continued to practice his pro- 
fession. Taking part in the renewed revolution of 1848, he was again 
sentenced to imprisonment, but succeeded in escaping and made his way 
to America. In 1853 he founded the Manitowoc Deniokrat, which from 
the first was strongly anti-slavery. In 1861 he was appointed to a posi- 
tion in the treasury department, which he held until near his death, 
continuing at the same time to write for many German newspapers, 
especially the Washington Volkstrihun. He died in Washington on 
November 14th, 1897. 

- A. H. Bielfeld was born at Bremen, Germany, on June 20. 1818. He 
came to the United States in 1836, spent a year or two in Mexico, came 
back to this country and settled in Wisconsin in 1843. He was the first 
city clei'k of Milwaukee. 

^Dr. C. E. Wunderly was born on December 6, 1818, received an edu- 
cation as physician and surgeon in German schools and universities, 
emigrated to Texas, and in 1845 came to Wisconsin. He died February 
22, 1859. 

* Christian Essellen took part in the revolutionary movements of 1848, 
and had to go into exile in consequence. He published the first German 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERNL\NS. 1 95 

Milwaukee. The Germans of tlie latter citj would not have been 
represented at all, had not theVereinFreier Mcmner.a. sort of de- 
bating society to which most of the Milwaukee "Forty-eighters" 
and their sympathizers belonged, taken the matter in hand, and 
at two of its meetings hotly debated the question of sending del- 
egates. The Democrats in the society, under the leadership of 
Schoeifler and Fratny, resorted to every possible means of ob- 
struction and prevented the taking a vote on the measure. Then 
the Eepublicans tried to call a mass meeting of German citizens 
for the evening of July 12, the day before the convention. But 
the German daily papers, all of which were Democratic, refused 
to publish the notice, and as a consequence only four persons at- 
tended the meeting.^ Thereupon the above-mentioned Repub- 
lican leaders Avent to Madison on their own responsibility, and 
were duly recognized as delegates from Milwaukee. The con- 
vention did not fail to realize the importance of agitation among 
the Germans. ^Vunderly was made a member of the first 
Hepublican state central committee, and a committee was ap- 
pointed to raise funds for the establishment of a German Re- 
publican paper at Milwaukee." 

About the time of this convention, Bernhard Domschke made 
his appearance in Milwaukee, and soon became one of the most 
important leaders of the German Republicans. He came from 
Louisville, Ky., where he had been associated with Karl Tlein- 
zen in the publication of a newspaper. He made his debut in 
an address on August 6, 1854, on the "Democratic Church.'' 
This created so much excitement that Fratny, the leader of the 
non-Catholic wing of the German Democrats, challenged him to 
a jDublic debate, which took place three days later in Market 
Hall, crowded to its utmost capacity. ^ As usual in such cases, 
the friends of both speakers claimed the victory for their cham- 

literary and scientific journal in this country, first as a weekly and later 
as a monthly. Its name was Atlantis; first published at Detroit, it then 
was printed at Milwaukee, and finally at Buffalo. It was issued for 
about five years. 

^Atlantis, i, p. 263. 

2 The committee consisted of Charles E. Wunderly, A. H. Bielfeld, J. R. 
Brigham. Edwin Palmer, and Asahel Finch, jr. 

' Koss, Mihvaukee, p. 449. 



196 WISCOxXSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

pion ; but the undoubted result was, that attention was attracted 
to the man from Kentucky. On October 7, 185-4, appeared 
the Korsar, the first German Republican paper in Milwaukee. 
Its editor was Domschke, while the financial backer was 
Rufus King, of the Sentinel. So the new party had almost 
from the start three German weekly papers at its command; 
for besides the Korsar and Roeser's ^Yisconsin Deniolcrat 
at Manitowoc, the Pionler at Sauk City espoused the Repub- 
lican cause. 

This was the time when the Kno\^^lothing movement and its 
off-shoot, the American party, had obtained considerable power 
in several states, and the foreign-born citizens everywhere had 
become frightened at their success in a much greater degree 
than the real strength of the agitation warranted. It does not 
appear that the American party ever liad an appreciable in- 
fluence in Wisconsin.^ How strong the Knownothing order 
ever became, it is impossible to learn from the material at hand. 
But however that may be, the Germans all over the United 
States felt grave apprehensions. On many sides it was pro- 
posed that the foreign-bom citizens should unite into a distinct 
party for the purpose of protecting themselves against attacks 
upon their rights. At Milwaukee, the German debating club at 
one time had for its subject the question : "Is it conducive to 
jjrogress, if the liberal Germans in the United States form a 
political party of their o'wn?"" Against this idea, Domschke 
set himself from the beginning. In this connection an article 
from his pen, which appeared in the Wiscomin, Democrat on 
August 17, 1854, is interesting as showing his position, which 
was undoubtedly typical of that of other 'Torty-eighters." He 
says, amiong other things: ''The idea of forming a union of 
foreigners against nativism is wholly wrong, and destroys the 
possibility of any influence on our part ; it would drive us into- 
a union with Irishmen, those American Croats. In our strug- 
gle we are not concerned with nationality, but with principles;. 

^ In 1856, the number of votes cast for the "American" presidential 
candidate, Fillmore, was 579, against 52,843 Democratic and 66,090 Re- 
publican votes. — Wisconsin Blue Book. 

' Koss, Milwaukee, p. 440. 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. 197 

Ave are for liberty, and against union with Irislimen who stand 
nearer barbarism and brutality than civilization and humanity. 
The Irish are our natural enemies, mot because they are Irish- 
men, but because they are the truest guards of Popery." 

It is not a part of the subject matter of this paper to relate 
in detail the political history of the state, during the following 
six years. Suffice it to recall, that the Republican party from 
the first showed great strength, and within two years had its 
representative in the gubernatorial chair. In 1856, the state 
cast her electoral votes for Fremont, and four years later went 
for Lincoln. During all this time Republicanism steadily 
gained ground among the Germans, but at no time was there 
anything like a general falling away from the Democratic stand- 
ards. Temperance and Knownothingism were the great bug- 
bears that kept them largely from joining the party to which 
their anti-slavery sentiments would have drawn them. To this 
Avas added the fact that in the eyes of the Catholic Germans the 
Republicans were identical with their old and bitter enemies, 
the "Forty-eighters."^ As time progressed, and the Democrats 
began to feel the stings of defeat, the tone of discussion in the 
newspapers and on the stvimp became exceedingly bitter. The 
anti-slavery j^arty was never mentioned except as the '"Black 
Republican" party, and "nigger worshippers" became one of 
the mildest epithets. Here are some selections from an article 
in the Seehote published i^overaber 6, 1858 : 

You know yourselves of what elements the so-called Republican party 
is composed. Temperance men, abolitionists, haters of foreigners, sac- 
rilegious despoilers of churches (Kirchenschaender) , Catholic-killers, 
these are the infernal ingredients of which tnis loathsome Republican 
monstrosity is composed. * * * This miserable Republican party 
is a blood-thirsty tiger ever panting for your gore, that would like to 
kill you with the most exquisite tortures. * * * Even Germans are 
miserable and nefarious enough to fight in the ranks of the enemy 
for the destruction of their countrymen. 

An ever-recurring charge against the German Republican lead- 
ers was, that they w^ere actuated by selfish motives because the 

' See Parkman Club Papers, 1896, p. 236. 



1 98 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Eepublicans stood ready to give tliem lucrative offices or assist 
them in journalistic enterprises.^ 

The antagonism between the "grays" and the "greens," that 
is between the older German residents and those who had come 
since 1848, did not fill so conspicuous a place in the contem- 
poraneous life of Wisconsin as it did in the older states, simply 
because there were comparatively few "grays" here. But oc- 
casionally it cropped out, as for instance in the newspaper feuds 
of Domschke with Fratny and Schoeffler. The political quar- 
rels were unhesitatingly carried into social and business life. 
In 1857, Henry Cordier, a young German lawyer at OshkosL, 
had said, in a letter to the Wisconsin Demolcrai : "As a German 
Kepublican in Oshkosh, this stronghold of Hunkers, I stand 
very much isolated." Thereupon the Democratic paper in his 
town, Avhich was published by another German lawyer, Charles 
A. Weisbrod, threatened him with boycott.^ Oshkosh, the Hun- 
ker stronghold, by the way, gave 628 majority for Randall, the 
Republican candidate for governor. 

One of the aims of which the Gennan Republican leaders 
never lost sight, was to prevent their jiarty from doing anything 
to justify the charge that it was in favor of Knownothingism 
and prohibition. In his acconnt of the Madison convention of 
1854, Roeser, in his paper, exclaimed exultantly: "ivTot a 
word about temperance in the platform!" In 1855 he declared 
that in case the Republicans should nominate a temperance man 
for governor, the Germans w^ould remain true to the party but 
stay away from the polls. On September 25, 1855, he wrote 
that Domschke, Wunderly, and himself had been assured by the 
party authorities thai: for the next two years the temperance 
question would not be taken up, as slavery was the all-important 

' One of the charges against the Republicans, used in successive cam- 
paigns was, that they spent state money for campaign purposes by hav- 
ing state documents unnecessarily printed in German and giving the 
contracts to German Republican printing offices. The charge was well- 
founded, only the Democrats were equally guilty. In 1853 they had 
spent $12,000 for such German printing "jobs." 

= Oshkosh Deutsche Zeitung, Oct. 3, 1857. Cordier later became state 
prison commissioner, 1864-70. 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GER.NLVNS. IQQ 

issue. In their platforms of 1857, both parties declared with 
great emphasis against nativism. The Democrats said in their 
platform : 

Resolved, That we hold in detestation the intolerant and un-American 
spirit which aims to curtail the privileges of those who, coming from 
other lands, seek to be citizens of the United States, and that the Dem- 
ocratic party of this state will, as it has ever done, frown indignantly 
on every attempt to interfere with the existing laws relative to nation- 
alization. 

The Republican platform contained the following plank: 

Resolved, That the true advocates of free labor must necessarily be 
true friends to free and unobstructed immigi'ation; that the rights of 
citizenship and the full enjoyment and exercise thereof make true 
American patriots out of foreigners; that an abridgement of those 
rights would necessarily tend to divide the citizens of the Republic into 
different classes, a ruling and a governed class; that inequality of 
rights among the inhabitants of a republic will always be inconsistent 
with and dangerous to true Democratic institutions; and that therefore 
the naturalization question is, with the Republicans of Wisconsin not 
a question of mere policy but principle. 

Resolved. That we are utterly hostile to the proscription of any 
man on account of birthplace, religion, or color, and that we are op- 
posed to all secret or public organizations which favor such proscrip- 
tion. 

Under tliese circumstances, it was not possible for the Demo- 
crats to say that the Republicans as a party were in favor of pro- 
hibition or the restriction of the rights of foreigners. But they 
never failed to point out such tendencies, whenever they showed 
themselves in individual Republicans either at liome or in other 
states. For instance, much was made of the fact that in 185'^ 
John Sherman, of Ohio, had in the house of representatives 
-opposed the admission of Minnesota to the Union, because her 
constitution provided that foreigners might exercise the suffrage 
before they had become fully naturalized.^ Sometimes the Re- 
publicans got a chance to retaliate with this kind of argument, 
as when Stephen A. Douglas, that idol of the German Demo- 
crats, in 185.5 opposed in the senate the provision of the land 

^ Oshkosh Deutsche Zeitung, May 19, 185S. 



200 WISCOxN'SIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

preemption bill wliieh gave the same rights to foreigners having 
declared their intention to become naturalized, as to citizens ; or 
when in 1859, a man was appointed deputy collector of customs 
at Port Washington, who was generally supposed to have be- 
longed to a Knownothing lodge and never denied the story. 
This mistake of the Buchanan administration excited the vio- 
lent disgust of the Democratic state senator of the district, Sil- 
verman, and caused no slight chuckle among the Kepublicans. ■'^ 
In 1859, the strongly Republican state of Massachusetts passed 
a law taking away the suffrage from foreign-bom citizens until 
the expiration of two years after the date of their naturalization. 
This law created the most intense indignation among foreign- 
ers throughout the United States, and undoubtedly cost the Re- 
publicans everywhere thousands of votes. The Republican 
state convention of the same year, in Wisconsin, took pains to 
condemn this law of another state ; but for a long time it contin- 
ued to furnish ammimition to the Democrats, who said that 
this law proved how the Republicans "placed the German be- 
low the nigger."" 

Differing' as they did with the majority of their party on 
nearly every point except that of slavery, the German Republi- 
cans naturally never became very strong party men ; but were, 
easily induced t'^ vote with the Democrats whenever the slavery 
question was not directly at issue. An article written by 
Christian Essellen, in his magazine Atlantis, illustrates this- 
attitude. After discussing M'hat the Germans ought to do when 
compelled to choose between anti-slavery and temperance, he 
says: 

"We agree perfectly with the New York Ahend^ieitung and the Illi- 
nois Staats-Zeitung in this, that where no other way can be found we 
ought to lay principal stress on the slavery question in state and con- 
gressional, but on the temperance question in municipal elections. To 
those who would fain draw us into the ranlis of the pro-slavery party 
by showing us a beer mug, we will reply that we would i-ather submit 
to annoying measures than betray the grand principles of liberty.^ 

^Madison Democrat, February 25, 1859. 

" For an impartial discussion of the Knownothing movement from the 
standpoint of the Germans, see Julius Froebel, Aus Amerika, i, p. 513. 
^ Atlantis, i, p. 194. 



rOLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. 20I 

The arg'iiments of those non-Catholic Germans who remaine J 
Democrats, are well characterized in another article by Essellen : 

If the curse of slavery is mentioned for whicli that party conducts 
its propaganda, if one points to Kansas and Missouri, it is replied that 
all that has nothing to do with the Democratic party of Wisconsin; 
that Wisconsin has no slavery. If one calls attention to the bad and 
fraudulent management of the present Democratic state administration, 
complains about the frittering away of the school lands or the frauds 
connected with the building of the Insane Hospital, if one shows up the 
corruption of the Democratic party of the state, either these things are 
denied or refuge is taken in answers like this: It is better, after all, 
to have at the head of the state government negligent spendthrifts who 
leave us our personal liberty, than virtuous Puritans that will load us 
down with temperance legislation. If we remind them of the connec- 
tion of the Democracy with the Jesuits, we get for an answer the gen- 
eral horror of Knownothings, fearing whom seems to be the principal 
occupation of Germans even in Wisconsin.^ 

At the time when the Republican party was organized, in 
1854, the German vote in Wisconsin Lad already become so 
strong that both parties found it advisable to have a place on 
their state tickets given to a representative of that nationality. 
Accordingly in 1855, the Republicans nominated for state treas- 
urer Carl Roeser, who was credit^id with having been chiefly in- 
strumental in carrying Manitowuc county in 1854, theretofore 
strongly Democratic, for the new^ party. Roeser, however, was 
defeated by Charles Kuehn, also a German, who was nominated 
by the Democrats and became the successor of Edward Janssen, 
his countryman, as state treasurer. In 1857, Francis Huebsch- 
mann, of Milwaukee, one of the principal leaders of the "free- 
thinking" wing among the Gei-man Democrats, was a candidate 
for the nomination of governor by the Democratic convention. 
He was defeated by James B. Cross, and Carl Habich of Dane 
county became the German representative on the ticket, being 
nominated for state treasurer. He was at the time the deputy of 
Treasurer Charles Kuehn. Dr. Huebschmann and his friends 
did not take their defeat in good part. In his paper, the 
Gradaus, he charged the delegates to the convention w'ith cor- 



'^ Atlantis, iii, p. 225. 



202 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

ruption.^ This naturally broiiglit a violent storm of indigna- 
tion about his ears, but before long he had his revenge. At the 
^Milwaukee charter election in the following spring, a large sec- 
tion of the Democrats joined the Republicans for the purjDose of 
overturning the Democratic city administration, which was 
charged wdtli incapacity and corruption. The fight was espe- 
cially hot in Huiebschmann's home w-ard, the second, which was 
almost wholly German. In this ward lived the two candidates 
for city treasurer : H. Sclnvarting, the regular Democrat, and A. 
von Cotzhausen, the reform candidate, who had the endorse- 
m'ent of the Republicans. Huebschmann w-as one of the most 
active of the reformers. Of course he was charged with being 
actuated merely by a desire for revenge upon the D'emocrats who 
had preferred Cross to himself as governor. The fight attracted 
the attention of the entire state. The outcome Avas, that the re- 
formers elected a Republican, William A. Prentiss, for mayor^ 
who became thereby the first Republican city officer in Milwau- 
kee. Cotzhausen, hoAvever, the reform candidate for city treas- 
urer, w^as defeated. 

By this time the German Republicans had found for them- 
selves a leader beside whose eminent ability even such gifted men 
as Roeser, Wunderly, and Domschke appeared insignificant. 
This leader was Carl Schurz. When Schurz came to Wisconsin 
in the spring of 1853, and settled in Watertown, he w^as not more 
than twenty-four years old ; but already knowai to every Ger- 
man in the United States as the youth who three years before 
had helped Gottfried Kinkel, the poet and revolutionist, to es- 
cape from the prison at Spandau, wdiere he had been incarcer- 
ated for high treason.^ Schurz took an active interest in the 
political affairs of his new home from the very start, but not 
until the Fremont presidential campaign did he attract general 
attention. It is stated, on the authority of C. C. Kunz, of Sauk 
City,^ that the first to bring Schurz forward as a stump orator 
was L. P. Harvey, who later became governor. At a meeting 
of the state central committee in the summer of 1856, he spoke 

' Oshkosh Deutsche Zeitung, Oct. 17, 1857. 
' Parkman Club Papers, 1896, p. 235. 
'Seebote, March 27, 1897. 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. 2O3 

of him as a bright young Gorman he liad met at Watertown, 
who was building a house for himself, but was ready to go on 
the stump for Fremont as soon as the house was finished. Har- 
vey, it seems, was ignorant of the Kinkel affair. But a few 
days later the Madison State Journal published an article, pre- 
sumably from the pen of Horace Rublee, in which the story of 
Schurz's bravery was told. This of course threw a sort of ro- 
mantic glamor around the .young orator, and made people 
curious to hear him. 

In 1857, the Eepublicans nominated Carl Schurz for the of- 
fice of lieutenant-governor. The Republican candidate for gov- 
ernor, Alexander W. Randall, was elected by 454 majority out 
of a total vote of 88,932 ; but Schurz was defeated by the Dem- 
ocratic candidat*^, E. D. Campbell, by 107 votes. As it was 
probable that many German Democrats had scratched their 
tickets in favor of Schurz, it seemed evident that a considerable 
number of native Republicans had refused to vote for the Ger- 
man candidate. The Democrats did not fail to take advantage 
of this circumstance. '"There you see the character of the 
Black Republicans," they would argue. "They are willing 
enough to put a German on their ticket so as to catch German 
votes. But when it comes to the election, they take good care 
that the d d Dutchman is not elected." 

From this time on, the German portion of the Republican 
party became decidedly unfriendly to the state administration, 
and especially to its head. Governor Randall. This internal 
quarrel contributed not a little towards keeping the Germans 
away from the new party. In the summer of 1858 the German 
leaders published a long manifesto, which amounted to an open 
declaration of war against the administration. It was signed 
by Bernhard Domschke, Henry Cordier, H. Lindemann, Win- 
ter and Ritsche, publishers of the Volksblatt, Carl Roeser, and 
Carl Schurz. Among other things the manifesto contains the 
following passages : 

The Republican party of this state has been unfortunate in that the 
former head of the administration has not succeeded in disproving the 
charge of corrupt acts, although he was elected principally on the issue 
of political honesty. It is true that the present administration 



204 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

stands clear of such accusations; but we have cause to complain of 
many acts which must injure the harmony and prosperity of the Re- 
publican party. Corrupt opponents of Republicanism, and even un- 
worthy individuals, have been favored and encouraged while men of 
merit have been disregarded and shoved aside. Such actions, with the 
surrounding circumstances, must destroy the confidence of the Repub- 
lican masses in their leaders and representatives, discourage honest 
endeavors, and weaken the effectiveness of the party organization., The 
Democrats may do such things without astonishing the world or doing 
injury to themselves; but an administration which has solemnly bound 
itself to lend no ear to the influence of cliques and to proceed honestly, 
openly, and with decision, cannot break such promises without injuring 
the credit and organization of the party to which it owes its installa- 
tion in office. An attempt to manage a new party, like the Republican, 
on the plan of that organization whose only aim is the distribution of 
public plunder, must have a tendency to gain temporary advantages at 
the cost of principle, to make concessions in order to win outward 
power, to unite for the purpose of expediency the most incompatible 
opposites, and to make principle the humble slave of circumstances. 
When a party gives way to such influences, it may suddenly find itself 
sinking from the solid ground of principle to the changeable platform 
of time-serving inconstancy. 

In closing, the document reiterates the adherence of the sign- 
ers to Republican principles, and expresses a hope for the future 
total abolition of slavery. 

Schurz, in the meantime, was rapidly becoming a man of 
more than local reputation. In 1858, he took a somewhat con- 
spicuous part in the great Lincoln-Douglas campaign in Illi- 
nois ; and in April, 1859, he was called to Boston, to help the Re- 
publican cause in the very birthplace of anti-slavery sentiment. 
While he was thus busy in spreading Republican doctrines, he 
was violently attacked at home. The most outrageous of the 
assaults of his enemies was a statement made in the Beaver 
Dam Democrat to the effect that Schurz was in the pay of the 
Prussian govermnent, which kept him here as a spy on his fellow 
exiles from Germany. The only evidence offered in support of 
this charge, was that his property had not been confiscated as 
had that of many other refugees. The affair naturally created 
a great deal of discussion. Huntington, the editor of the paper 
which had published the libel, refused to tell who had given him 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GER^L■^NS. 205 

the information, and the friends of Schnrz .c;nessed in vain who 
the author was. At one time suspicion fastened itself on Leon- 
ard Mertz, who, however, in an indignant communication to 
the Watertown Transcript, cleared himself of the accusation. 
Finally the VolJisfrcund claimed to have discovered the slan- 
derer in Emil Roethe, publisher of the Watertown Weltbuerger, 
who had formerly been a protege of Schurz's and had even lived 
for a while in his house, Roethe denied the charge in general 
terms, but many continued to believe it true. ^ 

When the time approached for the state convention of 1859, 
the anti-administration wing of the Republicans decided that 
Schurz must be nominated for governor. Carl Roeser became 
the manager of his campaign. ''We are," he said in his paper, 
"from principle in favor of the nomination of Carl Schurz as 
candidate for governor, not because he is a German, but because 
we demand of the Republican party that by an open, living deed, 
namely the nomination of a foreign-born citizen who has secured 
esteem throughout the United States, it disprove the charges 
of Knowaiothingism made against it." The fight between the 
Schurz forces and the followers of Governor Randall, who sought 
a renomination, became quite bitter ; and Randall, in his hatred 
of Schurz, finally declared that he was willing to withdraw from 
the contest if thereby he could defeat the nomination of his op- 
ponent. When the convention met, however, it was found that 
out of 174 votes cast only 48 were for Schurz. It is stated that 
20 of these came from delegates of German birth. Schurz was 
tendered the nomination for lieutenant governor, but he de- 
clined. The defeated candidate, whose home by this time had 
been transferred from Watertown to Milwaukee, was on his re- 
turn given a public reception by the Young Men's Republican 
club; and in a speech on Market square reaffirmed his loyalty 
to Republican principles and promised to work for the election 
of Randall. Some of his German followers, however, did not 
accept his defeat so philosophically. The German Republican 
club of Manitowoc adopted violent resolutions in which Gover- 
nor Randall was denounced as a Knownothing, a friend of cor- 
ruptionists, and an advocate of the fugitive slave law. Through- 

^ Atlas, Dec. 28, 1858; Feb. 28, 1859. 



.206 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

'Out the state, large numbers of German Kepublieans stayed 
■away from the polls on acoount of this disaffection. 

The charge against Randall of upholding the fugitive slave 
law, brings us back to the consideration of the difference in prin- 
ciples, within the Republican p'arty, of those with Democratic 
antecedents, like Schurz and his Germans, and those who came 
from the old Whig party. Undoubtedly there was no real truth 
in the charge. But vei*y likely the governor had expressed him- 
self to the effect that after the supreme court of the United 
•States had overruled the decisions of the state supreme court 
and declared the fugitive slave law constitutional, no further re- 
sistance to that law could be permitted until it had been prop- 
erly repealed. Schurz, however, and his Germans entertained, in 
this instance at least, the most extreme states' rights doctrine, as 
appears from his speech for Byron Paine. Although he no- 
where expressly mentioned the right of nullification, his 
theories undoubtedly lead directly to that teaching. These 
views were shared by many of the old Free^soilers, who either 
were Democrats in everything but the slavery question, or who, 
like the old Liberty party men, forgot everything else in their 
zeal for the abolition of slavery. 

Naturally, the form of Republicanism which appears in the 
Byron Paine speech of Carl Schurz did not remain unchal- 
lenged. It was especially Timothy O. Howe, later United 
States senator, who took up the sword to defend the centralistic 
nature of Republican principles. After considerable discussion 
in the newspapers, and in correspondence with prominent Re- 
publicans, he made the matter one of the principal grounds of 
objection to Schurz's nomination for governor. He recurred to 
the matter in the state convention of 1860, when Schurz was 
anxious to be a delegate to the Chicago national convention. 
Howe asked him point blank whether he considered the peculiar 
views expressed by him in the Milwaukee speech with regard 
to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts, essential to the 
principles of the Republican party. Schurz, after some discus- 
sion, finally admitted that his views on that question were not 
essential to Republicanism, and with this answer Howe was 
satisfied. Schurz was duly elected a delegate, as the party 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. IQJ 

leaders were anxious to heal the breach between the two factions. 
Undoubtedly the same desire towards conciliation had contrib- 
uted toward the election of Schurz as regent of the state univer- 
sity by the legislature, at the session of 1859. This election had 
become necessary by the resignation of Professor Carr. 
The office of regent at that time seems to have been considered a 
political plum, for it appears that the successful candidate was 
elected by a strict party vote over Leonard Mertz, for whom the 
Democrats cast their ballots.-^ 

The action of Schurz in retreating from his extreme position 
on the states' rights question, did not at all please his abolitionist 
friends. Associate-Justice A. D. Smith also, whose term was 
then about to expire, made a violent attack on him. The Ger- 
man Republicans and the various shades of abolitionists had 
from the first been closely connected, because both were more 
radical in their anti-slavery views than was congenial to the 
more conservative majority of their party. ^ A number of 
prominent Gennans, including some who afterwards remained 
stout adherents of Democracy, had been members of the vigi- 
lance committee during the excitement connected with the res- 
cue of the fugitive slave Glover.^ Later, Wunderly was one 
of Shennan Booth's sureties during the criminal prosecution 
against him. When Schurz became the Republican candidate 
for lieutenant-governor in 1857, it was Booth who nominated 
him in the convention. When John Brown was executed on 
December 2, 1859, the Milwaukee Germans, in addition to the 
general meeting of citizens at the chamber of commerce, held 
an indignation meeting of their own, and the resolutions passed 



^ Legislative Journal, Feb. 2, 1859. 

- At one of the anti-fugitive slave law meetings in 1854, resolutions 
were passed that advocated nullification in its crudest form. At 
this meeting a state league was formed, with the following officers: 

E. B. Wolcott, president; A. H. Bielfeld, secretary; C. E. Wunderly, 
treasurer; Ira C. Paine, vice-president. See Vroman Mason, "Fugitive 
Slave Law in Wisconsin," y^is. Hist. Soc. Proc, 1895, p. 128. 

^ These members were Wunderly, Christian Essellen, F. Neukirch, 

F. Fratny, and Moritz Schoeffler. A. H. Bielfeld, the Free-soiler, acted 
as secretary of the mass meeting on March 11, 1854. 



208 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

upon that occasion contained the following paragraph which 
ought to have satisfied the most impetuous abolitionist : 

Resolved, That if the last means to solve the slavery question in a 
peaceful manner fails, it would in our opinion be perfectly justifiable 
to gain that end in revolutionary ways; and that all responsibility for 
such a necessary step will rest on the heads of those who persistently 
refuse to abolish, by means of reform, an institution that disgraces our 
century and this republic. 

It must not be imagined, of course, that the slavery question 
was during all these years the only political matter which in- 
terested the people of the state or the German element among 
them. The antagonism' between the Catholics and the free- 
thinkers, which was so noticeable during the preceding period, 
continued with unabated vigor. In 1854, the anti-Catholic 
paper Flughldtter'^ was the subject of some heated debates in 
both houses of the legislature, where Assembl_yman Worthing- 
ton of Waukesha and Senator McGarry of Milwaukee offered 
resolutions prohibiting the legislative postmasters from dis- 
tributing this publication to the members. These resolutions, 
however, were not adopted. The religious radicalism of the 
"Forty-eighters" " found vent in their support of a movement for 
the abolition of the exemption of church property from taxation. 
In 1855, Assemblyman James Bennett, of Manitowoc, put him- 
self at the head of this movement, and presented numerous peti- 
tions in its behalf, very largely signed by Germans. The same 
gentleman also offered a motion to strike out the customary ap- 



■Parkman Club Papers, 1896, p. 236. 

^ Besides the Catholics and the freethinkers or "Forty-eighters," the 
Lutheran element of the German population hardly appears as a dis- 
tinct factor, as far as the political affairs of this period are concerned. 
Many Lutherans, probably, were retained in the Democratic party 
through the influence of Dr. Walther, of St. Louis, the German-Luth- 
eran patriarch of this country. He approved of slavery on the ground 
that it had biblical authority. Walther's influence was particularly 
strong in the congregations belonging to the Missouri synod, so-called. 
But in the younger organization, known as the Wisconsin synod, there 
was from the first a pronounced anti-slavery spirit which led most 
Lutherans belonging to it into the Republican ranks. 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. 209 

propriation for the services of a chaplain of the assemhly, which 
was promptly voted down, but earned for its author the warm 
praise of his townsman, Carl Roeser. Mr. Bennett's political 
career, by the way, seems to have come to an abrupt close, for 
his name does not reappear in the lists of members of the legis- 
lature. 

The school question was widely debated durino- that period 
and here is what one leading "Forty-eighter," Christian Es- 
sellen, has to say on the subject : "It seems to me it is a wrong 
conception of religious tolerance, and an extension of it beyond 
its natural limits, if religious associations are permitted to 
snatch from the state a part of public instruction and use it for 
their selfish, one-sided ecclesiastical purposes." He went on to 
advocate the prohibition of all private and parochial schools, 
and as a first step in that direction the subjection of all such in- 
stitutions to the supervision of the state authorities.* It is 
doubtful, however, whether Essellen here expressed the views of 
most of the "Forty-eighters," for just about this time they were 
very active in founding private schools wherever there were con- 
sidei-'able numbers of Gennan residents. 

During this period no inconsiderable number of Germans held 
various state offices, including membersship in the legislature. 
Most of the German members of the latter were on the Demo- 
cratic side. Among the more prominent of them was Fred 
Horn of Cedarburg, who in 1854 was speaker, as he had been in 
1851, and was to be again in 1875. Another Democrat of consid- 
erable prominence in the legislature was Charles G. Rodolph, 
who represented Iowa county in 1851, Ilichland in 1858, and 
was in the senate during the sessions of 1859 and 1860. He 
gained some notoriety by a speech on the Kansas troubles, 
February 28, 1858. During that session a considerable portion 
of the legislative time was spent in discussions of the national 
political situation. On March 1, Paul Weil, of West Bend, 
another Grerman Democratic member, offered a resolution "that 
all buncombe speeches on Kansas be limited to five minutes." 
But the resolution was promptly tabled, and the flow of oratory 
went on as before. On the whole the influence of the Germans 



^Atlantis, i, p. 24. 



2IO WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

in the legislature does not seem to have been very great. In 
1859, Bernhard Domschke passed a pretty severe judgment on 
them. But his opinion may have been influenced by the fact 
that in the legislature of that year the German members 
were all Democrats. He referred to the fact that several Ger- 
man papers had mentioned with satisfaction that no less than 
fourteen members of the legislature were Germans. To 
this he replied, that mere numbers would never gain the admi- 
ration of others for the Germans, if they lacked ability. Of 
all the Germans there was but one of respectable capacity — 
Horn. The rest were mere ciphers. Then he went on : "The 
others are mostly dumb as codfish, play second or third fiddles, 
stay at home half of the week rather than attend, and on oc- 
casion disgrace the German name by foolish speeches as did 
Senator Rodolph the other day."^ 

On the whole, the picture which the Germans in Wisconsin 
present during the period from 1854 to 18G0, is a satisfactory 
one from the standpoint of a member of that element who de- 
sires to see his nationality exert an influence proportionate to 
their numbers and capacity, and from the point of view of an 
American wdio wishes that so important an element in our com- 
monwealth shall become an organic part, instead of remaining 
a foreign body within the community. 

The German immigration into Wisconsin, before the war, 
reached its high water mark in 1854, when according to the esti- 
mate given by Fred Horn who Avas then commissioner of immi- 
gration, 16,000 Germans settled in the state. Among the immi- 
grants during this and the preceding three or four years, there 
was an extraordinaiy number of educated and able men who had 
been compelled to leave their country for political reasons. At 
first most of these imagined that their exile would be of short du- 
ration ; and consequently, during the first few years, took far 
more interest in the affairs of Europe than in those of the United 
States.- Others wasted their strength for a while dreaming 



'Atlas March 1, 1859. 

= They were described by Christian Essellen as "men who begin every 
sentence with 'When the outbrealc comes again' (Wenn's wieder 
losgeht)." 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF WISCONSIN GERMANS. 211 

about the foundation of a German state in the !N'orthwest. But 
by 1854, the hopes for a renewal of the revolutionary movements 
in Germany were pretty well dissipated; and more and more 
the leading minds among the Germans began to feel that their 
home was here, and to devote their energies to promoting the 
welfare of their adopted country. By the year 1860 they had 
become excellent American citizens ; and when in the following 
year the War of Secession broke out, no element of our popu- 
lation was more prompt or more enthusiastic than the Germans 
in rallying round the union banner. True, as the war pro- 
gressed and its hardships became more severely felt, a few Ger- 
mans, misled by demagogical copperheads, took part in the dis- 
graceful draft riots. But it was a German governor who put 
dowTi these disturbances with an energy that put to shame the 
native governors of ISTew York and some other states in similar 
emergencies. The administration of Governor Salomon, how- 
ever, lies beyond the scope of this paper. 



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